Nearly 300 letters reveal Chopin as both man and artist and illuminate his fascinating world — Europe of the 1830s and 1840s. "Delightful gossip . . . merry rather than malicious . . . engagingly witty." — Books. Preface. Index.

This volume contains 31 pieces from The First Term at the Piano, For Children, 10 Easy Pieces and 7 Sketches. The informative foreword includes Bartók's specific instructions on wrist and finer action, articulations and syncopation. Each piece is prefaced by a brief introduction.

An excellent collection in Hinson's At the Piano Series. Contains many of his most popular Mazurkas, Preludes, Waltzes, Nocturnes--plus others! Includes informative biographical information and performance suggestions for each work.

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. The Sunday Times (U.K.) Classical Music Book of 2018 and one of The Economist's Best Books of 2018. "A magisterial portrait." --Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times Book Review A landmark biography of the Polish composer by a leading authority on Chopin and his time Based on ten years of research and a vast cache of primary sources located in archives in Warsaw, Paris, London, New York, and Washington, D.C., Alan Walker’s monumental Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times is the most comprehensive biography of the great Polish composer to appear in English in more than a century. Walker’s work is a corrective biography, intended to dispel the many myths and legends that continue to surround Chopin. Fryderyk Chopin is an intimate look into a dramatic life; of particular focus are Chopin’s childhood and youth in Poland, which are brought into line with the latest scholarly findings, and Chopin’s romantic life with George Sand, with whom he lived for nine years. Comprehensive and engaging, and written in highly readable prose, the biography wears its scholarship lightly: this is a book suited as much for the professional pianist as it is for the casual music lover. Just as he did in his definitive biography of Liszt, Walker illuminates Chopin and his music with unprecedented clarity in this magisterial biography, bringing to life one of the nineteenth century’s most confounding, beloved, and legendary artists.

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin was a Polish and French composer and a virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, who wrote predominantly for the solo piano. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era. Liszt knew Chopin both as man and artist; Chopin loved to hear him interpret his music, and himself taught the great Pianist the mysteries of his undulating rhythm and original motifs. The broad and noble criticisms contained in this book are absolutely essential for the musical culture of the thousands now laboriously but vainly struggling to perform his elaborate works, and who, having no key to their multiplied complexities of expression, frequently fail in rendering them aright. And the masses in this country, full of vivid perception and intelligent curiosity, who, not playing themselves, would yet fain follow with the heart compositions which they are told are of so much artistic value, will here find a key to guide them through the tuneful labyrinth. Some of Chopin's best works are analyzed herein. He wrote for the "Heart of his people" their joys, sorrows, and caprices are immortalized by the power of his art. "There is something fundamentally personal and at the same time so very masterly in his playing that he may be called a really perfect virtuoso." -Felix Mendelssohn, composer, pianist, organist (1809-1847) "Every single note was played with the highest degree of taste, in the noblest sense of the word. When he embellished, which he rarely did, it was a positive miracle of refinement." -Wilhelm von Lenz, writer (1809-1883) "Now, for the first time, I understood his music, and could also explain to myself the great enthusiasm of the ladies. The sudden modulations that I could not grasp when I myself played his works no longer bother me. His piano is so ethereal that no forte is needed to create the necessary contrast. Listening to him, one yields with one's whole soul, as to a singer who, oblivious of accompaniment, lets himself be carried away by his emotion. In short, he is unique among pianists." - Ignaz Moscheles composer and piano virtuoso (1794-1870)